2nd AsianOutlook Family Lunch - London, August 10th, 2007
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Our 2nd Family Lunch – London, August 10th, 2007
by Susanne Tirre
Nobody of us who attended the very first AsianOutlook.com members meeting in May 2007 though that we would meet up again so soon but on August 10th AsianOutlook.com invited for the 2nd AO Family Lunch in London. The first one had been a joyful meeting of people who became friends at AO. Everybody expected nothing less of the second lunch since the premises couldn’t have been better. We were about to see one of the best movies of the year at its World Premiere and its star in person. The Family Lunch at the next day would be held at the same place as was the first one: Gifto’s Lahore Karahi Restaurant in Southall, London. Should you ever be in search for a good place to enjoy Indian Food that’s a good start.
A lot has been said about the World Premiere, the presence of Shah Rukh Khan and the movie itself. So it may be sufficient to state that it was a perfect theme to start a conversation with till then unknown friends. But perhaps I should start at the beginning…
The day before our Lunch had seen the arrival of AO-Family-Members, their meeting and the World Premiere. This second day started nicely with a pleasant breakfast at the “Family Hotel” St. Davids at Norfolk Square, because a great part of the Family preferred to stick together as long as possible. It’s a nice hotel with a small park in front of it which turned out to be a meeting point for the Family.
It was good that the lunch was about to start at 1 pm, because many members wanted to spend some time in Southall. This part of London is inhabited mostly by people of Indian or Pakistanian origin. Walking down the Broadway is kind of like a walk through India with all the colours, saris, food and music. If you are in search for something hard to find, then you should try Southall with its many stores. Hence it wasn’t a surprise to find AO-members spread all over this street for the whole morning. We’ve already had lots of fun on our way from the bus stop to the Broadway, because of a certain branch bank. Almost every AO-member had to stop there to take some pics (which can be found here: http://www.asianoutlook.com/aoforum/showthread.php?t=8401 ) or enter the bank to ask for a sheet with an ad - to the mild amusement of the employees.
Packed with lots of bags we finally entered our “Family Restaurant” to mount the stairs of the first floor where Claudia and Gabi had already decorated the room. About 50 Members were expected to attend the meeting and almost everyone made it. Instantly, everybody felt at home with lots of “didis”, some “bhaiyas” and our own “Papa Bear”. We were all greeted by our forum owner Mr. Shahid Malik and the other Family Members.
Proudly we had put on the buttons Gabi had made for everyone. It’s always nice to know the name of the person you are talking to and so it was also fun to find out which user-name belongs to whose face. Some of them were familiar and many were new. That’s no surprise considering that the number of attending Family Members almost doubled compared to the 1st Lunch. As I’ve stated before finding something to talk about after the World Premiere wasn’t a problem and also the decoration of the walls helped a lot.
The time just flew with chatting, taking pics with Shahidji or the posters and so we were surprised when the meal was served, because we hadn’t had a chance to talk to everyone. The dishes were very well assembled to please everyone’s taste and we enjoyed it very much.
After the meal Shahidji raised to start a very special part of the Family Lunch: his news about current projects and Shah Rukh Khan(whitch can be found here: http://www.asianoutlook.com/aoforum/...ead.php?t=8549 ) I wish everybody could have the chance to meet Shahidji and hear him speak, because it is a pleasure to listen to his words and his way of speaking. We had a birthday child with us that day and he presented a very special gift to her, an originally signed picture of Shah Rukh. It was so sweet to see him giving it to Ralu who was overwhelmed by this present. After providing the possibility to ask questions about his projects Shahidji invited everyone to write a message about CDI on a CDI-poster which he promised to give to Shah Rukh Khan.
Unfortunately, some of the Family Members had to go by now to catch their transport back home so that the Family Lunch had to come to an end. Shahidji bid farewell to everyone and promised that this wouldn’t have been the last time the Family has met. So we left the restaurant being sad and hopeful at the same time. We were sad, because we had to leave each other and hopeful because we are looking forward to the next meeting of our second family.
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